The Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) will decide by the end of January on whether to proceed with a full inquiry into South Africa’s Dr Tlaleng Mofokeng, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to health.
Mofokeng has appealed following the HPCSA's ruling of unprofessional conduct against her in October, and R10 000 fine.
GroundUp reports reports that the council has until 28 January to decide whether to go ahead with the inquiry related to her social media comments about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a staunch supporter, Hillel Neuer.
Last April, an envelope arrived at Mofokeng’s office at Georgetown University’s O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law in Washington, DC, where she’s a senior scholar.
Mofokeng has been the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to health for nearly six years and was in Thailand when the envelope arrived. It was opened by an assistant: inside was human excrement on a square of toilet paper and a typed note, which referred to Mofokeng’s work on Palestine, using “extremely hateful rhetoric” and “disgusting, racist language”, according to her colleague Matthew Kavanaugh, an associate Professor and director at the Centre for Global Health Policy & Politics.
Meanwhile, in South Africa, days before the letter arrived, pro-Israel advocacy group the South African Zionist Federation (SAZF) had lodged a complaint with the HPCSA over social media comments made by Mofokeng about Netanyahu and supporter Neuer.
In an X post on 19 January, since deleted, Mofokeng commented: “F*ck him” in response to an Al Jazeera report that Netanyahu had ordered the Israeli military not to begin implementing a ceasefire in Gaza until Hamas had provided the names of Israeli captives to be released.
Neuer, who leads a pro-Israel non-profit organisation called UN Watch, then called on the UN to discipline Mofokeng for her comments. In two subsequent posts on X on 20 January, Mofokeng referred to Neuer as a “white man” and “evil scum”.
In a complaint to the HPCSA, the SAZF argued that Mofokeng’s posts breached social media ethics rules and that her actions did not meet South African standards for a doctor.
A preliminary committee of inquiry at the HPCSA sanctioned her for the unprofessional conduct in October. She was ordered to pay a R10 000 fine.
But Mofokeng has appealed the ruling, and the matter is to be referred to a more formal professional conduct inquiry.
The SA Health Professions Act now gives the HPCSA the power to suspend Mofokeng’s licence until a final decision is made, though it has not done so. It has until 28 January to decide, said Khanyisa Mapipa, a lawyer with SECTION27, who is representing Mofokeng.
Once the formal inquiry is under way, the committee is not limited to its initial finding of a minor transgression, which means Mofokeng could be accused of serious misconduct and lose her medical licence, said Mapipa, adding that they intend taking High Court action should the HPCSA inquiry not rule in Mofokeng’s favour.
Mofokeng has received support from people worldwide. One statement was signed by more than 150 people – including Archbishop Thabo Makgoba, ANC veteran Elinor Sisulu, researcher Linda-Gail Bekker – and local organisations such as Treatment Action Campaign and Open Secrets.
Her legal team argues that the HPCSA’s move to discipline Mofokeng is a breach of constitutional free speech protections as well as international conventions and local diplomacy laws that protect UN officials from legal and administrative processes brought against them as a result of their work.
They say Mofokeng’s comments fall squarely within constitutionally protected speech, regardless of whether she used impolite language.
A letter from Federica Donati is included in SECTION27’s submission. Donati is in charge of special procedures at the Office of the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights.
The letter confirms Mofokeng is considered an expert on a mission for the UN under the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the UN and must be afforded immunity from “legal process of every kind” for “words spoken or written and acts … in the course of the performance of their mission”.
SAZF national spokesperson Rolene Marks told GroundUp that no title excuses behaviour that brings the medical profession into disrepute and that medical ethics is separate from diplomatic privilege.
“UN diplomatic immunity is not a cloak for professional misconduct,” said Marks. “Dr Tlaleng Mofokeng was found guilty of unprofessional conduct by the HPCSA and fined accordingly, a ruling that speaks to her actions as a South African doctor, not her position at the United Nations. To suggest that a UN appointment can nullify a domestic ethical sanction is legally baseless and ethically indefensible.”
The HPCSA did not respond to GroundUp’s queries.
GroundUp article – SA doctor in the firing line for stand on Palestine (Creative Commons Licence)
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